Star Trek: Daria 2: Resurrection
by echopapa
Summary: Daria recounts her revival and her experiences in the 24th century to a Federation News Service reporter. A sequel to Star Trek: Daria - Memory Lane.
1. Chapter 1

_Starfleet Academy, San Francisco, Earth_

Cadet Daria Morgendorffer entered her room, tossing her PADD onto the bunk. She knew that she should start turning the notes she took in Commander La Forge's warp theory class into a paper right away, but she had been on the go since 0600, and she decided to have a shower and dinner first.

She was about to pull off her tunic and head for the sonic shower, but she decided to take care of some housekeeping first. _Dammit! I wish the dispensary could come up with a formulation of Retinax that didn't make my eyes itch,_ she thought as she sat at her desk terminal and adjusted her glasses.

"Computer. Reserve a half hour for me tomorrow evening in one of the microgravity courts in the gym." She was going to have to put in some extra time if she was going to pass her course in Zero-G combat.

#You have a reservation tomorrow at 1930, court D-5,# the computer answered.

"Great."

#You also have an incoming call from the Federation News Service.#

"Not another one. I thought the novelty of 'The Girl From The Past' had worn off by now," she muttered. "Put it through. Let's see what this one wants."

A figure in the screen replaced the graphics. "Miss Morgendorffer," the young dark-skinned man said, "I'm Jake Sisko, a reporter from FNS. I've gotten permission from your company commander to contact you." He held up a PADD that featured a story about Daria's return to Earth from the cryoship, with a photo of her being greeted by the mayor of 24th century Lawndale.

"I've been following your career since your revival from suspended animation, and I'd like to do a followup on how you've adapted to our era and your decision to enter Starfleet Academy – with your approval, of course."

"Excuse me a minute." She blanked the screen, and switched to the orders of the day. Sure enough, there was a message from Commander Sanderson.

_To Cadet Daria Morgendorffer: Change of orders. All other assignments suspended for 48 hours pursuant to collaboration with FNS reporter re: interviews._ Daria read an addendum at the end of the message: _Make the Academy look good, Morgendorffer._

_It's good to know that the spirit of Ms. Li lives on,_ she thought wryly.

She switched back to Sisko. "It seems that I'm yours for the next couple of days," she said. "Where should we meet?"

"Great!" Jake answered. "My grandfather owns a restaurant in New Orleans. I'm sending you the coordinates now. I'll leave the time up to you."

"Give me...two hours." _That should give me some time to shower and unwind._

"It's a date, then. See you soon!" He cut the connection.

"Date?" Daria stared at the screen, which had reverted to her Mütter Museum screensaver. Her roommate thought that it was gross - but being that she had leave of her own to visit her mother whose starship was in port for a refit, she wasn't around to complain to Daria about it.

_Well, he was easy on the eyes_, Daria thought. Then she caught herself, reflexively expecting one of Jane's merciless jibes at any hint of romance coming Daria's way. Which reminded her once again that Jane had been dead for centuries. How welcome she would find teasing right now.

She turned to her roommate's Flotter doll on the bunk across from hers. "What the hell are _you_ looking at?" she told it. If there was one thing that Daria's hibernation made her glad for, was that she missed the Flotter craze that had swept the planet years ago. Out of curiosity, she had read a couple of the stories (Flotter Meets The Invincible Invertebrates?) and even participated in a holotale at her roommate's insistence.

_But for the life of me,_ she thought as she got up and headed for the shower, _I still can't figure out how a turquoise troll has become as popular as teddy bears had been in her own time._


	2. Chapter 2

Daria materialized in a public transporter station next to the Audubon Park entrance. It was a little muggy, having just rained. She stepped down from the platform, looked around, and saw Jake Sisko coming to meet her.

He was African-American, a tall, thin man in his early 20s, wearing black slacks, a blue shirt with a high collar and a brown vest.

"Miss Morgendorffer," he said, shaking her hand, "Or should I say Cadet Morgendorffer? I'm glad you were able to make it."

"No classes for two days?" It wasn't a hard choice to make."

"Have you been to New Orleans before?" Jake asked. "If not, I can show you the city after dinner."

"I grew up in Texas, and one year my folks were planning a vacation in New Orleans, but we had to cancel when a big legal case of my mother's came up and my dad didn't want to go without her."

"Then you must see the French Quarter before you leave." He motioned to Daria. "This way. Sisko's is only a half block from here."

After a couple of minutes, they came upon the restaurant, which had a lighted sign which said "Sisko's Creole Kitchen" which was reflected in the still wet street as dusk fell.

"Nice décor," Daria said as they entered, noticing the alligator hanging from the ceiling.

Jake laughed. "When I was little, granddad told me that the alligator was in stasis, and he released it at night to guard the place." He stopped at a table and held out a chair. "Is this okay?"

"Fine." Daria sat down. Jake joined her as a tall man in his 70s approached the pair.

"Welcome to Sisko's!" he said in a deep baritone. Any friend of Jake's is a friend of mine, especially a cadet as lovely as yourself." He handed them each a menu.

"And you must be Jake's grandfather."

"Joseph Sisko, at your service. Anything you need, just ask for me. Are you two ready to order yet?"

Daria looked at the menu. "I've never eaten Creole before. What do you recommend?"

"The Trout Menuiere is especially good today, seasoned just right."

"Sounds good. I'll go with that."

"Shrimp Creole for me, granddad" Jake said.

"Very good," said Joseph, "And for drinks?"

"Let's keep with the Southern theme and have iced tea," Daria said.

"Raktajino for me," Jake said, "Extra sweet. And do you have any Makapa bread?"

"I keep some just for you, Jake." Joseph took the menus and left. Daria watched him thoughtfully, then said, "Has anyone ever told you that he sounds a lot like Darth Vader?"

"Who?"

"Never mind. Do cadets come here often?"

"Well, Nog did, because he liked the chilled shrimp. He said that they reminded him of tube grubs."

"Ferengi?"

"And my best friend. We went through a lot together."

Joseph returned shortly with their drinks. After a few minutes, Daria said, "I checked up on you, you know."

Jake replied, "What did you find?"

"You grew up on Starbase Deep Space Nine near the Bajoran wormhole, you lost your mother in the Battle of Wolf 359, your father was Benjamin Sisko, Commander of the station, Captain of _USS Defiant_ and hero of the Dominion war." Her voice softened a bit. "I also know he sacrificed himself to end the war and bring peace to both sides."

"The Bajorans call it being 'One With The Prophets,'" Jake said, wistfully, "And there may be something to it. He certainly doesn't feel dead to me."

"You've seen a lot of action in the war yourself," Daria continued, "Choosing to stay behind when the Dominion captured DS9 to cover the occupation for the FNS."

Joseph returned with their orders, and set them down before the two.

"But, as the saying goes," Jake said after Joseph left, "Enough about me. I know that you've told the story a hundred times before, but can you -"

"Tell you one more time about how I got to be a corpsicle in a spaceship hundreds of trillions of miles from Earth? The how I don't know; Starfleet is still trying to figure that one out. What I can tell you, though, is what happened to me after that...

* * *

"She's coming out of the coma, Doctor."

_Hm. Bright lights. I guess there is a Heaven, after all...wait. Why would Heaven need a doctor?_

Daria managed to open her eyes and saw two blurry figures that looked like women bending over her.

"Just relax and get your strength back," one of them said. "We've reversed the effects of cryosleep and healed your cancer, but we had to induce a coma so your body could devote all its efforts to repairing itself. You'll be good as new soon."

_Good as new? That's the last thing I ever expected to hear,_ she thought as she passed out again.

When she next awoke, Daria was able to sit up in bed. Out of reflex, she felt around for her glasses, and

found them on a tray at her bedside. After putting them on, she looked around.

It was like no other hospital room she had ever seen, and she had seen plenty. She was in a flat bed, in a room décor that could only be described as futuristic. There were four other beds, each in its own alcove. Looking behind her, she saw a black monitor at the head of her bed, with what looked like vital signs being continually updated on the screen.

To get a better look at what looked like some kind of treatment table in the center of the room, she brushed the hair away from her glasses and then stopped.

_I have hair. _

_Where did all of this hair come from? The chemo had left me as bald as a cue ball._

She was still looking at her hair when a red-haired middle aged woman walked in. "I hope you like it," she said, checking Daria's monitor. "There was a packet of personal effects that was with you and it had your picture in it. I used that to determine the length and style of your hair."

"Considering that I never expected to have hair again," Daria said, "much less being alive, I have to ask; who are you, where am I, and how did I get here?"

"Well, I'm Doctor Beverly Crusher, and you are aboard the _USS Enterprise,_ which is currently 130 light years from Earth. We found your cryoship drifting here in the Neutral Zone with three other sleepers that we managed to revive."


	3. Chapter 3

Daria chewed a forkful of her dinner. "This is very good," she said.

"Be sure to tell Granddad," Jake replied. "He's had to change suppliers and he's been worried that the trout may not be up to snuff."

"He needn't worry. Replicated food is pretty tasty – I don't know what I'd do without my room replicator when I'm cramming for exams – but real home-cooked food is a treat I rarely have time for any more."

She paused in thought. _It almost makes me miss my dad's...efforts. Almost._

Daria continued. "Anyway, Dr. Crusher explained to me about how humanity had spread among the stars, and that the _Enterprise_ was part of Starfleet, the exploration and defense arm of the United Federation of Planets. She also explained how my ship was found drifting hundreds of light years from Earth, in the middle of the Romulan Neutral zone. The Enterprise was sent into the Zone to investigate the destruction of several Federation outposts, and came across my ship. After retrieving me and the other sleepers, the Romulans arrived – their own outposts were attacked and they blamed the Federation."

"At the time, no one knew that it was the Borg who were attacking the outposts; if my luck had run out, I could had waken up assimilated. As it was, though, my recovery was fairly long, and I missed all of the fireworks with the Romulans."

* * *

"Your condition was the worst," Dr. Crusher said, "So it took extra time to treat you and bring you around."

"Cryoship? I've been in suspended animation? For how long?"

"As near as we can tell, about 362 years. Didn't they tell you that you may be asleep for a long time?"

"They didn't tell me anything! When I was still lucid, I signed a DNR – a Do Not Resuscitate form. I didn't want any heroic methods done to prolong my life – and I certainly didn't want to be frozen."

"Well, someone must have. That's the only way to explain your being on that ship."

"Aside from the fact that they didn't have these...cryoships when I died, I never agreed to...oh, no!" Daria recalled the time in her senior year in high school when she and Jane had each entered a contest that Sick, Sad World was running with a million dollar first prize. She had won one of the third prizes instead, which was a free cryonic suspension upon death. She didn't believe in cryonic technology, and after she and Jane had gotten a good laugh out of it, she had just tossed the paperwork in a drawer and had forgotten about it.

Suddenly, she also recalled one of the times near the end when she was in hospice slipping in and out of consciousness; she had a hazy memory of awaking to someone encouraging her to sign some sort of paper – for the life of her, she couldn't remember if she signed it or not, but the evidence was obvious.

_Someone must have found those forms and thought they were doing me a favor...I wonder who did it? Jane? Mom? Nevermind. It worked, and I'm alive because they had faith that I didn't._

* * *

Jake dipped a piece of Makapa bread into his Raktajino cup. He took a bite, savoring the peppermint flavor. "So, Daria," he asked, "did you ever find out who committed you to cold sleep?"

"I never did," she replied. The only thing that I can remember is that I'm fairly certain that it was a woman – It could have been my mother; she was devious enough, but she knew my wishes and I believe that she would have respected them. Same goes for my best friend, Jane Lane." She took a sip of tea and thought.

"Anyone else?"

"I thought about my sister Quinn; we didn't get along very well until our late teens. After I got sick though, she and Jane helped me with my bucket list and tried to make my last days as memorable as possible."

Jake got the reference, and made a mental note to ask Daria later about the things she saw and did before she died. He didn't want to sidetrack her narrative though, and let her continue.

"It couldn't have been her, though...she was pretty sneaky, but she couldn't forge my signature to save her life – or mine." Daria took another bite. "The last suspect is my aunt Amy...we were pretty close, and I don't think she would have any scruples about doing it."

"After holding me for observation for a few hours, Dr. Crusher released me from Sickbay. I had been given quarters, and a crew member had been assigned to help me acclimate to the ship..."

* * *

Dr. Crusher finally decided that Daria was fit for release from sickbay, pending a final few medical checks.

"I'm curious about something," Daria asked, as the Chief Medical Officer performed her scans. "Did my ship have a name?"

Dr. Crusher closed her tricorder and handed Daria a robe. "Well, we found a dedication plaque aboard the cryoship that we salvaged; there was a place for it on the wall of the main cryo chamber, but for some reason it was never mounted. It was found in a storage locker – I have it right here." Crusher pulled it out of a drawer and handed it to Daria.

Daria examined the plaque. It was a bronze rectangle, a little larger than an automobile license plate, with the names of the preserved passengers – she could read her name clearly. But what really caught her attention was the name of the cryoship. For the first time since her revival, she doubled over with laughter.

"What's so funny?" said the bemused Dr. Crusher.

With tears in her eyes, Daria managed to hand her the plaque.

"SS _Birdseye,"_ Crusher read. "We did think that was an odd name for a ship. What does it mean?"

"Well, if I didn't know better, I would think that a friend of mine was having a last laugh at my expense." Daria regained her composure, and continued. "Birdseye was a brand of frozen food. I think that someone had a wicked sense of humor, but chickened out, or was ordered to take the plaque down by someone who thought that it was in poor taste. Can I keep it?"

"I don't see why not," Crusher replied. You should see some of the things snuck onto Starfleet plaques."

* * *

"One last treatment, and I'll send you to your quarters," Dr. Crusher said to Daria, who had finished fastening her sickbay robe and was sitting on the edge of her biobed. Crusher pressed a hypospray injector against the base of Daria's neck. There was a slight hiss, and Daria was surprised that she hardly felt it."There. The injection of neosteroid will help with the atrophy, but you need to get your muscle tone back." She pressed her uniform insignia. "You can come in now, Wesley."

A young man entered the sickbay. He was about 16 years old, with brown hair. He wore a gray uniform, with the same insignia that Crusher wore. "Hi, mom," he said.

"Hello, Wesley." She gestured to Daria. "Would you mind showing our guest to her quarters?"

"Sure." He shook Daria's hand. "Acting ensign Wesley Crusher at your service. My mom told me about you, and I'm glad to see you up and about." He turned to his mother. "Can I show her around the ship too?"

"Do you feel up to it, Daria?" Crusher asked.

"I'm a little wobbly, but that shot's making me feel better fast," Daria said. "I think I can make it."

"Good!" Wesley said, helping her to her feet. Sure enough, she staggered with her first steps, but rapidly found her feet.

After Daria walked for a few minutes, Crusher felt satisfied. " You can go, Daria. Just be careful not to overexert yourself. You hear that, Wesley?"

"Sure, mom," he said, as the sickbay door closed behind them.

Wesley was true to his word, letting Daria set the pace as he led them along the starship's corridors. "The USS _Enterprise_ is a _Galaxy_-Class starship with a maximum cruising speed of warp 9.6, which is 1,909 times the speed of light. She has a length of 642 meters, 42 decks and masses 4,500,000 metric tons. Her crew compliment is 1012 personnel, including families."

"Yeah, I noticed that you were Dr. Crusher's son. Isn't it a little dangerous for families out here in space?"

"No more dangerous than it was for the families in the ships of earth's age of exploration in the 18th and 19th centuries," Wesley replied, and they entered a Turbolift. The doors closed, Wesley said, "Deck 8, guest quarters," As the lift car smoothly slid up and forwards, he continued. "_Galaxy_ class ships are designed to cruise deep space for years at a time, and it was determined that the crew would operate more efficiently with their families with them. It's still pretty much an experiment, though."

* * *

"Yeah," Jake said, "That experiment ended fairly quickly after disasters like the loss of the _Yamato_ and the _Odyssey_, it decided that it was safer to station families at Starbases within the ship's patrol area."

"Like Deep Space Nine?"

"Touché. Let's be fair, though. DS9 didn't become a war zone until _after_ the discovery of the Bajoran wormhole."

The conversation was interrupted by a noise coming from the front of the restaurant. Daria and Jake looked up to see three aliens enter the dining area. As they passed the pair, she could see that they were bipedal olive green reptilians, nearly seven feet tall, with tyrannosaur-like heads and glittering compound, faceted eyes. They wore silken tunics that stopped at mid-thigh.

"What are Gorn doing here?" Daria wondered aloud.


	4. Chapter 4

Jake answered with a twinkle in his eye. "The one in the lead is Han'iss, the Trade Ambassador from the Gorn Hegemony. The big one after him is his newest mistress. The last one is Shuular, the top Gorn food critic. After granddad told me earlier that the Ambassador's staff had made reservations for tonight, I did some digging around and found that the Gorn are looking to make a deal with the Gulf Coast fishing industry. The Ambassador's party is here tonight to sample the local cuisine to see which species and recipes are suitable to Gorn tastes." Jake eyed the trio carefully. "Our relations with the Gorn have come a long way since James Kirk's near disaster of a First Contact."

"Captain Kirk's decision to spare the Gorn Captain in the Arena really made an impression on the Hegemony," Daria agreed. "That's what probably persuaded them to join the Federation Alliance in the Dominion War. What?" Daria said, in answer to Jake's quizzed expression."I had to do a report on Federation-Gorn relations for my Xenosociology class."

Jake laughed. "I'm sorry, it's just hard to remember sometimes that you've had twelve years to get up to speed on 24th century history."

"Which includes two years of Academy training." Daria replied. "That I don't need to recall the expression, 'kill two birds with one stone.' You didn't possibly set up this dinner to be here when the Ambassador's party arrived, did you?"

"Jake grinned. "Just being a good reporter."

"And you didn't think I would mind being left alone here while you went off chasing another story? I feel so – used."

Jake suddenly felt worried. "I promise, just a quick interview, then I'll be back and I'll have your undivided attention."

"Men," Daria said, "You're all alike. Chase one story, then your head's turned by the the next scoop that comes along." Her smirk, though, told Jake that she wasn't serious. "Go. I guess I'll drown my sorrows in gumbo until you get back."

Meanwhile, a waiter had seated the Gorn dining party at a large table that had been set up for them with reinforced chairs, while Joseph Sisko greeted them. "Ambassador, esteemed guests, welcome to Sisko's! We have the finest Creole cuisine in all of the Federation. May I take your orders?"

Han'iss's reply, via Universal Translator was succinct: "Everything. And keep it coming."

Daria watched with amusement as Jake went over to the Gorn table and introduced himself. The Ambassador was apparently in a good mood, and granted the young reporter an interview between courses of crayfish, crab, and oysters, which the Gorn consumed with gusto – shells and all.

The Gorn interview took about fifteen minutes, after which Jake rejoined Daria and sat down, wiping a stray bit of crab from his recorder before placing it in his shirt pocket. "Now, where were we?"

"I was being escorted around the _Enterprise_ by Wesley Crusher," Daria said. "I think that he was chosen as my guide because he was close to my age, and I think that his mother may have had a little bit of matchmaker in her, though I don't think she was conscious of it. Anyway..."

* * *

They stopped at a door. "Here are your quarters," Wesley said. "The door has already been programmed to respond to your biosigns. Just walk through."

The door slid aside as she and Wesley entered. In response to their presence, the lights came up, enabling Daria to see clearly. Her quarters were a suite with a sitting room with sofa, table and chairs, and floral arrangements with what she assumed were exotic alien plants.

But what really drew her attention was the view. Overlooking the sofa were lozenge shaped windows set at an angle following the curvature of the ship's hull, going from waist level to the ceiling. She walked over to them and could see rainbow streaks of stars darting past the window. Her breath caught in her throat. She stared for a long time, in silence. Finally, she murmured.

"Holy sh – I mean, it's magnificent."

"The stars aren't really going by that fast," Wesley said smiling as he recalled his first view out of a window of stars at warp. "It's just a side effect of starlight entering our warp field. Roughly, I'd say we're going about warp seven."

Daria regained her composure. "So we're really traveling faster than light? Right now?"

"About 656 times the speed of light. At this speed, it would take about 67 days to get back to Earth, if we were going that way. As it is, Mom tells me that we plan to rendezvous with the USS _Charleston_, where you and the other sleepers will be transferred for the express ride back to Earth at about warp nine, while we continue our patrol. Let me show you the rest of your quarters."

Reluctantly, Daria turned away from the window. "Lead on, MacDuff."

"You know that you're misquoting Shakespeare, don't you?" Wesley said.

"Shut up." Daria decided to have a little fun at the kid's expense. "I just hope that this flying hotel is equipped to handle all of my, uh, 'girly' needs."

Wesley flushed. "Uhhh, I think you'd better ask the computer about that."

"_Ask_ the computer? I hope that the computers here are better at speech recognition than those of my era."

"Sure, said Wesley, regaining _his_ composure. He addressed the terminal at the nearby desk. "Computer. Explain...the sonic shower to Daria."

#The sonic shower is a device that uses water and sonic pulses to cleanse the humanoid body,# the terminal said in a businesslike, yet pleasant contralto voice. A display came up, showing a control panel. #This is the shower panel in your quarters. Various settings can be used to control the water temperature and sonic pulse intensity to your needs. Some find certain settings very relaxing to various parts of the human...#

"Later," Daria interrupted. To change the subject she asked Wesley, "Does, ah, the computer have a library?"

"The computer uses the LCARS operating system to tie in to the Federation Master Database," Wesley said, not noticing the computer's tendency to supply too much information. "From here you can access any data from history to literature to science... anything that isn't classified."

Wesley finished the tour by showing Daria the bedroom and the attached wardrobe that had several changes of clothes in her size.

"Great," Daria said. "I've had enough of hospital gowns to last me the rest of my life. Uh, if you don't mind..."

"Ah...yeah," Wesley said. "I'll just wait out here in the sitting room..." he backed out ahead of the sliding bedroom door. "We can tour Engineering after you've changed," he said through the portal.


End file.
